China ratifies extradition treaty with Spain

    BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) - China's top legislature on Saturday ratified an extradition treaty with Spain, the first such treaty China has signed with a developed western country, in which China unprecedentedly agrees that it will not execute repatriated criminals.

    Legal experts said that the landmark ratification means that China has committed itself to respect in law the principle of no extradition of criminal suspects who would face death penalty upon repatriation. The principle is observed by major western countries.

    The treaty also marks "China's major shift in tactics in bringing fugitive corrupt officials back to justice under its own legal jurisdiction," said Dr. Xu Hong, counselor with Department of Treaty and Law under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in an interview with Xinhua.

    "The treaty will help China weave a global extradition net to bring back corrupt officials who have fled abroad, largely seeking asylum in developed countries in Europe and North America," said Xu, who was also head of Chinese delegation in China-Spain extradition talks.

    Wu Dawei, China's vice foreign minister, said in a report to the legislature (the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress) earlier this week that "Spain is an influential country in the EU (European Union), and the treaty will effectively deliver the warning to corrupt officials who are at large on foreign lands."

    Signing the extradition treaty with Spain will pave the way for more such judicial cooperation with other western countries, he said.

    Fueled by surging economic figures, crimes such as bribery, embezzlement have increased among government officials in China, and a large number of crooked officials fled China after reaping huge profits as police have come to be on alert.

    Official figures show that from 1993 to January 2005, more than 230 Chinese criminal suspects had been repatriated from over 30 countries and regions, with assistance of the Interpol. But observers said they were just a friction of the suspects seeking refuge overseas.

    Since 1993, China has signed extradition treaties with over 20 countries, mostly developing ones including Thailand, Laos, Belarus and South Africa. "Negotiations with developed countries were moving slowly," said Xu.

    Observers said China's use of death penalty, especially on severe economic crimes, makes it hard for the country to cooperate on extradition with countries in the EU and North America who uphold the policy that no person who might be subject to the death penalty would be extradited.

    To these countries, extradition treaties can never be signed without China accepting the policy, Xu said.

    "The constitution of Spain does not allow death penalty," said Gregorio Laso, counselor of Information and Press in the Spanish Embassy in China. In an interview with Xinhua, Laso said the fact of two countries coming across all the differences in legal system to co-operate demonstrates trust and respect between the two sides.

    "The treaty has a very positive impact on bilateral relations, pushing the judicial co-operation to a new stage," Laso said, adding that the Ministry of Interior of Spain will set up an office in Beijing this month to take care of the judicial co-operation, including extradition issues.

    According to Xu, Spain proposed to China for extradition co-operation in September 2004. The two sides had all the treaty articles agreed in October 2005, and signed the document in Madrid on November 14, 2005, during Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Spain. The legislature's ratification is required to finally enact the treaty, according to Chinese laws.

    Though praised by Spain, the treaty has stirred up debate among Chinese legal experts and lawmakers, with some fear that it might weaken China's anti-graft efforts by exempting runaway crime suspects from death penalty.

    "Now, the issue is not that whether we should put them to death, but is that whether we can bring them back," said Xu, adding that once crime suspects are living at large on foreign lands, it is of no use to simply vow death penalty for them.

    In fact, such an exemption of execution has already in practice related to an official repatriated from the United States, even without an extradition treaty. Earlier this month, a court in the southern province of Guangdong sentenced Yu Zhendong, a former bank official repatriated from the United States, to 12 years in prison for embezzlement.

    Yu, former head of a Bank of China branch in the city of Kaiping being held responsible for an 82.5 million U.S. dollar loss of the bank, was returned to China in 2004 after China agreed on no death penalty for him.

    Observers said China's use of the death penalty, especially for severe economic crimes, makes it difficult to cooperate on extradition with countries in the EU and North America who do not impose the death penalty for economic crimes.

    These countries have refused to sign extradition treaties until China accepts their policy, Xu said.

    "The constitution of Spain does not allow for a death penalty, " said Gregorio Laso, counselor of the Information and Press in the Spanish Embassy in China. In an interview with Xinhua, Laso said being able to overcome the differences in the legal systems to develop the treaty demonstrates the trust and respect between the two sides.

    "The treaty has a very positive impact on bilateral relations, pushing judicial co-operation to a new stage," Laso said, adding that Spain's Ministry of Interior set up an office in Beijing this month to co-operate on judicial issues including extraditions.

    According to Xu, Spain proposed the two countries negotiate the extradition treaty in September 2004. The two sides had agreed to all treaty articles agreed in October 2005, and signed the document in Madrid on November 14, 2005, during Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Spain. With Saturday's ratification by the NPC the treaty has come into effect.

    The treaty has stirred debate among Chinese legal experts and lawmakers, with some fearing that it might weaken China's anti-graft efforts by exempting runaway criminals from a death sentence.

    "The issue is not whether we should sentence them to death, it's more important that we bring them back to face justice in our courts," said Xu, adding it is no use talking about capital punishment if they can't be brought back.

    An exemption to execution has already been made in the case of an official repatriated from the United States. Earlier this month, a court in the southern province of Guangdong sentenced Yu Zhendong, a former bank official repatriated from the United States, to 12 years in prison for embezzlement.

    Yu, former head of a Bank of China branch in the city of Kaiping was found guilty for the bank's losses of 82.5 million U.S. dollar. Yu was returned to China in 2004 after China agreed it would not sentence him to death.

    Other fugitives include Lai Changxing, the leading suspect in China's most notorious smuggling case involving 10 billion U.S. dollars. For years Lai has been trying to gain refuge status in Canada.

    The Chinese police are also negotiating with their Dutch counterparts for the return of Yang Xiuzhu, a former official in East China's booming coastal province of Zhejiang who has been charged with taking huge bribes. Enditem

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